Thursday, July 26, 2012

Farmhouse Project WIP - Update 7 - Experiments Followup

Well, lots of 'error' in my 'trial and error'.

The resin window experiment flopped in more than one way. First, the resin somewhat sticks to the wax paper which leaves some paper residue on the back of the window ruining their clarity. Second, the resin sticks - a lot - to the double-stick tape. That one didn't surprise me I guess...although I had some hope since the silicon didn't stick to it at all. The wax paper frames both suffered from seepage of the resin under and out of the frame. Although it was easy to trim off when still semi-soft, it still left a thin sheet of clear resin on the back side of the frame - exactly what I was trying to avoid. There is another test I'll likely try with the resin to avoid the seepage, but the transparency option is gaining favor.

Ok, on to the painting tests. So far I've got four options painted up. None of them strike me as 'that is the one', but a at least one looks promising.

Below are a few photos. Keep in mind you can click on the photos to expand them for a more detailed view. Pardon the odd wall shapes...as I mentioned before, these were poured with extra plaster as I was casting the walls.

The option below has no pigment in the mortar lines at all. This option actually looks a little better than the photo shows, but it still leaves something to be desired...

Country Gray base, red/browns sponged on, sepia wash to bring it together

The option below used Gray pigment in the mortar lines. I didn't seal this one before applying the pigments which resulted in
the gray pigment sort of overpowering the brick face colors... It looks kind of interesting and has an 'old brick wall' feel, but does not match brick on the house I'm looking for.

Country Gray base, black wash, red/browns sponged, Slate pigment

The example below is actually three variations on the same base coat. The left has the white pigment pressed in to represent the mortar, the center is no pigment, the right is gray pigment. Even though I sealed this piece before applying the pigments, they both really overpowered the brick color. To me, the white is too light and the gray is too dark. I actually kind of like the center portion where there is no pigment, but it still doesn't look quite right.

The final option so far is the one I believe that best represents the original house. The left 2/3 has a Sandstone base coat with the standard red/brown sponging plus some single bricks picked out in highlight colors. The right 1/3 has a Mudstone base coat (a bit darker than the sandstone) with the same paint scheme as the left portion.

It still looks a little 'chalky' even though I sealed the piece before applying pigments. Maybe a thicker coat of sealer would help. I tried wiping as much of the pigment off the tops of the bricks as I could with a wet paper towel, but it wasn't entirely successful. The grout pigment is a mixture of about 2 parts slate, 1 part white.

Anyway, I guess I'm leaning towards the sandstone side, although it may be interesting to paint random areas with the darker Mudstone to give some variation in color. The two seem to blend pretty well.

Below are some photos of the house I'm modeling after. Keep in mind that the walls of the house are a little more uniform and may better represent the original brickwork. The test pieces are from a different mold I'll be using for another set of related buildings. I think the last option above best represents the top left photo on the wall (where the kids are hanging out).

Images from http://www.nrzam.org.uk/BobEglinton/BobLHS.htm

Well, more than ever I could use some feedback on these options. I'm too close to the problem to see clearly at this point... Figuring out how to get rid of some of the 'chalky' look would be ideal I think. Alternatively, I could scrap all of these tests and try something completely new.

About Me

I've been building terrain and playing various RPG and miniature games for about 25 years. The past decade or so I've certainly built more terrain than played games. I'm not sure why I build what I build, but I figure I should share some of the inspiration and skill God gave me.